Although that is a playable frame rate, it came at the cost of using a very low resolution. In Company Of Heroes, switching to the DirectX 10 render path killed its frame rate from 89 fps to just 35 fps at 800 x 600. The only possible use for its DirectX 10 support is in games that have very minimal use of DirectX 10 features, like BioShock. Short of some miraculous driver optimizations, there is no way you can run any DirectX 10 game with a usable frame rate at resolutions of 1280 x 1024 or greater. However, its DirectX 10 performance is so abysmal, it is virtually useless at all but the lowest resolutions. The NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT does offer DirectX 10 support on a low budget.

It would allow them to play DirectX 10 games, or so they thought. For many gamers on a budget, the DirectX 10 support was the biggest reason to upgrade to the GeForce 8600 GT. The GeForce 7600 GT just was not capable of a smooth frame rate even at the lowest resolution of 1024 x 768.The NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT was designed to succeed the GeForce 7600 GT by not only offering better performance but also support for DirectX 10. The NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT barely managed to deliver a usable frame rate of 31 fps. In Supreme Commander, both cards did not perform very well. The performance differences of both cards at higher resolutions are only of academic interest since they are way too low for smooth gameplay. However, the GeForce 7600 GT was only playable at 800 x 600. In BioShock, the NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT delivered good frame rates at up to 1024 x 768. In fact, both the GeForce 8600 GT and the GeForce 7600 GT were able to deliver frame rates greater than 100 fps at lower resolutions. In F.E.A.R., both cards had no problem achieving frame rates in excess of 30 fps even at the maximum resolution of 1920 x 1200. In Company Of Heroes (DirectX 9), the NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT delivered playable frame rates at resolutions of up to 1600 x 1200, but the GeForce 7600 GT could only do so at up to 1280 x 1024. So, we are left with the question - just how much faster is the GeForce 8600 GT compared to the GeForce 7600 GT? Let's find out. Of course, as we have seen earlier, supporting DirectX 10 does not mean actually being able to run them at a reasonable frame rate. The NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT will not only offer better performance but also support for DirectX 10 games. NVIDIA is certainly encouraging them to do so.

Many NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT users are wondering if it's worth upgrading to the GeForce 8600 GT.

Nvidia geforce 8600 gt review